Associate editors with documents

This procedure associates the file extensions of various document types with your preferred editors.

You can configure the Eclipse environment to let you choose the
editors you use within the DITA Perspective for topics, images, and maps. To do this,
you need to associate the documents' file extensions with your preferred editors.

Note: If the Read-only editor is enabled, then XML documents that are not
locked will open in it—not in the associated XML editor.

From the Window menu, select Preferences....

The Preferences dialog opens.

Select General > Editors > File Associations.

The File Associations pane appears.

Click the Add button next to the
File types list.

The New File Type dialog appears.

In the File Type entry field, type the appropriate file extension:

*.xml - for topics

*.ditamap - for maps

*.bmp - for bitmap images

*.jpg - for JPEG images

Note: You must associate the extension of each image type you want to edit. The above extensions are examples.

Click OK.

The new file type (*.png, for
example) appears in the File types list. Your new entry
should be highlighted.

Click the Add button next to the
Associated editors list.

The Editor Selection dialog appears.

Select either:

Internal Editors: Display a list of programs
integrated with the Eclipse IDE, such as the browser.

Select your preferred editor, then click
OK.

External Programs: Let you select other programs
available on your system.

Click the Browse button to
navigate to the program of your choice.

Select your preferred editor, then click
OK.

Your editor appears in the Associated editors list.

With the editor selected, click Default to make it your editor of choice.

Click OK.

Your editor is now associated with the document's file
extension. If you have more than one editor associated with documents such as
maps and topics, they will appear as selections on the Open
with menu when you right-click these documents. The image editor
that opens when you edit an image (from within the Show/Edit
Image dialog) depends on the type of image selected there, and
the editor associated with that image type.